Wa East District Assembly disburses fund to 64 PWDs

Funsi, (UWR), Sept 25, GNA – The Wa East
District Assembly (WEDA) in the Upper West Region has disbursed GH¢75,584.00 to
64 Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) to undertake economic activities and
alleviate poverty.

The district’s Disability Fund Management Committee
(DFMC) organized a forum to disburse the amount to the respective beneficiaries
as part of their share of the District Assembly Common Fund.

The committee, issued some signed individual
cheques to the recipients who comprised of 33 males and 31 females while others
received assistive devices, electric sewing machines, hand sewing machines and
grinding mill machines.

Mr Moses Jotie, the Wa East District Chief
Executive, in an address charged the beneficiaries to invest the money into
productive ventures which would help uplift their living standards and welfare.

“The idea is to make Persons with Disabilities
independent and not dependent on others or any other fund for their daily
basis,” he said.

He noted that the funds allocated were often
small, which often times made beneficiaries divert for personal consumption
instead of using the intended purpose

He expressed his commitment to ensure that
funds for income generating activities were raised to substantial level to help
lift PWDs out of abject poverty.

Mr Jotie said some beneficiaries of the fund
have benefited twice for income generating activities and urged them to make
judicious use of the money since several others have also applied for
consideration in the next releases.

Mr Mathew Dassah, the District Social Welfare
Officer and Secretary to District DFMC said the fund was to empower PWDs
economically and get them engaged in dignified labour as well as minimize
poverty of those outside the formal sector employment.

Spokesperson and Leader of the PWDs, Mr Edward
K. Seidu, said he disagreed to the fact that they were “disabled” but rather it
was the built environment that hindered their abilities.

“We are not disabled, it is the environment
that is disabled because we cannot be remodernized to favour the environment,
but the environment can be remodernized to favour us,” he said.

“Let us not also allow these monies and
resources to be disabled but we should let them be useful to us for government
to see the need to increase it”.